The King's Arrival - Concert Overture in C Major

This is definitely a far cry from the best piece I've ever written, but it may very well be my favourite. 

A little backstory: the motif for this piece came to me about two years ago, when I first started composing music for school. Given I had only just started, I wrote what I could on a template sheet (a FULL orchestral sheet, funnily enough) and had a relatively serviceable composition by the first few weeks. I wasn't exactly pleased with what I wrote (let's be honest, very few people can say their very first orchestral piece could rightfully stand toe-to-toe next to some of their more recent works), and I spent the next year tinkering with the piece, trimming the size of the orchestra down and adding enough 'structure' until it 'sounded right'. I suppose me working on it for a year should serve as testament to my love for this motif (and theme): I wouldn't have come back to a year-old forgotten theme today, even if I was starved of thematic material (as I was before having penned this composition). I was so proud of this piece that I had gone and bought empty sheet music in order to copy everything down so I wouldn't lose it. After I finished that ordeal, I put it aside and moved on to other projects.

Roughly nine months went by, and I happened on the piece again by chance: at this point I've finished the first movement to my symphony, started other side-projects, and had just started winter break. I was dismayed: a piece I was so truly proud of back then (even now) fell apart at the seams right in front of me. There were unplayable passages, fundamental orchestration sins, a catastrophic lack of structure: it had it all. Knowing that this simply wouldn't do, I sat and worked on this piece for the better half of two days, and reworked everything into something better according to my (thankfully higher) current standards. I had just finished the piece yesterday, and now I present it to you.

The piece is through-composed (a relic of my non-structural compositional style at the time), in C major: it is a programmatic piece, meant to evoke the giddy enthusiasm of townsfolk from some remote village welcoming their king (or queen) coming through their village. I hadn't taken the liberty of extending this piece to fit the 'required' length of a symphonic poem (as I had previously labelled it) or even a concert overture; that being said, I believe it conforms more to the latter in terms of length and material frivolity. And besides, I just can't be bothered.

Constructive feedback is always welcome. Thank you for listening! 😄

P.S. This is the newly revised piece. If you'd like to see the original, do let me know: I'd be glad to share it in all of its (hideously amateurish) glory!

Hi @Awsumerguy,

I think the piece is full of orchestral colour! I love your use of piccolo and snare drum throughout the piece. It sometimes reminds me the 2nd and 5th movement of Beethoven’s Pastoral!

I think of the shortcoming of the piece is the key and harmonic progrssion. The piece not only is entirely in C major, but there’s even no half cadence there! To me almost all the chords are C major chords! Even though it signifies the King’s Arrival, I think it is still too bright and “correct” for it! You can definitely much more contrast of keys and tonalities in it!

On 12/18/2023 at 3:09 PM, Awsumerguy said:

let's be honest, very few people can say their very first orchestral piece could rightfully stand toe-to-toe next to some of their more recent works)

Whenever I finish a new piece I usually just ignore the older ones and think them less good than I think they are before! That’s for sure means a growth in your writing!

Thx for sharing!

Henry

Hi, Let me first say I really enjoyed playfulness of work and the light texture.  At times there were moments I thought about the composer Ottorino Respighi.  I feel the work has so much more potential.  One thing I noticed is - I experience too many pauses in the narrative.  The momentum began, I expected more excitement, and development.

I did like your choice of instrumentation and orchestration.

So you have a potential gem here ... Get some more feedback/advice and go for it.

Mark